Preparation of Trans-β-Acyl Cyclopentanols and Cyclohexanols

The utility of organoboranes in the synthesis of a wide variety of functional groups is now well established.¹ There have been, however, only a limited number of reports where an organoborane containing a β-functionalized carbon was utilized in organic synthesis. Part of the reason for this is the difficulty in preparing β-functional organoboranes and their tendency to undergo elimination under a variety of reaction conditions.² Those β-functionalized organoboranes utilized synthetically, which we could find in the literature are the β-ethoxy³, 1, and β-carboethoxyvinyl-boranes⁴, 2, of Zweifel and coworkers and the trans-β-tert-butyldimethylsilyloxy organoborane, 3, of Corey and Ravindranathan,⁵ who proposed this system as a potential precursor to prostanoids.     

Convective amplification of gas turbine engine internal noise sources

The acoustic field of a noise source is altered when the source is in motion. The change in the acoustic field introduced by the source motion, caused by source alteration and propagation effects, is defined as convective amplification. Previous studies of this phenomenon have been based on analytical models that did not incorporate the physical features necessary for calculation of the convective amplification factor for the internal noise sources of a gas turbine engine, which is required to predict in-flight noise levels from static engine noise measurements. An improved theoretical model was developed. At low frequencies, this model resulted in a convective amplification factor of (1?M₀ cos θ_e)^?4, which is identical with the factor established in earlier studies. At high frequencies, however, convective amplification is a function of flight speed, radiation angle, and source geometry.     

Short-chain reactive probes as tools to unravel the Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing regulon

In recent years, the world has seen a troubling increase in antibiotic resistance among bacterial pathogens. In order to provide alternative strategies to combat bacterial infections, it is crucial deepen our understanding into the mechanisms that pathogens use to thrive in complex environments. Most bacteria use sophisticated chemical communication systems to sense their population density and coordinate gene expression in a collective manner, a process that is termed “quorum sensing” (QS). The human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses several small molecules to regulate QS, and one of them is N-butyryl-l-homoserine lactone (C₄-HSL). Using an activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) strategy, we designed biomimetic probes with a photoreactive group and a ‘click’ tag as an analytical handle. Using these probes, we have identified previously uncharacterized proteins that are part of the P. aeruginosa QS network, and we uncovered an additional role for this natural autoinducer in the virulence regulon of P. aeruginosa, through its interaction with PhzB1/2 that results in inhibition of pyocyanin production.

Short-chain reactive probes can be used as tools to shed new light on virulence mechanisms in bacterial pathogens.     

Analysis of CL-20 in environmental matrices: water and soil

Analytical techniques for the detection of 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazatetracyclo(5.5.0.05,9.03,11)dodecane (CL-20) in water and soil are developed by adapting methods traditionally used for the analysis of nitroaromatics. CL-20 (a new explosives compound) is thermally labile, exhibits high polarity, and has low solubility in water. These constraints make the use of specialized sample handling, preparation, extraction, and analysis necessary. The ability to determine the concentrations of this new explosive compound in environmental matrices is helpful in understanding the environmental fate and effects of CL-20; understanding the physical, chemical, and biological fate of CL-20; and can be used in developing remediation technologies and determining their efficiency. The toxicity and mobility of new explosives in soil and groundwater are also of interest, and analytical techniques for quantitating CL-20 and its degradation products in soil and natural waters make these investigations possible.     

Carboxyboronate: A Versatile C1 Building Block

The synthesis and applications of carboxy‐MIDA‐boronate, a novel C1 building block, are described. This molecule is accessible via a ruthenium tetraoxide‐mediated cleavage of commercially available ethynyl‐MIDA‐boronate. In the course of this study, carboxy‐MIDA‐boronate was found to possess ambident reactivity towards nucleophiles. Carboxylic acid derivatization produces a broad range of previously unknown carbamoyl‐, oxycarbo‐ and thiocarboboronates. Carboxy‐MIDA‐boronate and its derivatives undergo condensations to access borylated heterocycles with boron at positions that are difficult to access using alternate methods. The resulting heterocycles participate in the Suzuki–Miyaura cross‐coupling reaction, enabling entry into diverse bis(heteroaryl) motifs. The carbon monoxide‐releasing capacity of carboxy‐MIDA‐boronate was also examined and applied in palladium‐catalyzed carbonylation.     

Re-shaping the coffee ring

Not your cup of tea? "Coffee rings" of spherical colloidal particles are left behind after water droplets resting on surfaces have dried out. This controlled evaporation of colloidal solutions can be exploited to deposit material in regular patterns. It is now shown that if spherical colloids are replaced by slightly elongated ones, the coffee ring is not formed and is replaced by an even more uniform deposition.     

Ferric-ion-photosensitized damage to DNA by hydroxyl and non-hydroxyl radical mechanisms.

Iron(III) and UVA (320-400 nm) light strongly diminished the transforming activity of Haemophilus influenzae DNA in the presence of oxygen. Iron(III) alone in the absence of light had no measurable effect on the transforming activity. The chelating agent ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) conferred virtually complete protection, but hydroxyl radical scavengers (mannitol, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol and dimethyl sulfoxide) inhibited only a small fraction of the inactivation. Treatment of plasmid DNA (pBR322) with iron(III) results in the conversion of the covalently closed circular form of the plasmid to open circles and ultimately to the linear form. Concomitant with the alteration in the conformation of the plasmid, the ability to transform Escherichia coli was reduced. In model systems, iron(III) photoreacted with the DNA backbone causing nicking and double-strand breakage. The results are consistent with a mechanism involving a preliminary complexation of iron(III) by DNA followed by the generation of reactive free radicals other than .OH. We suggest that bound iron, or other UV-absorbing transition metal complexes, may be chromophores capable of causing DNA damage in the long-wave near-UV region.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic assay for mitoxantrone in plasma using electrochemical detection

A sensitive and specific high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) assay was developed for the quantitation of mitoxantrone in plasma using electrochemical detection. Bisantrene was chosen as the internal standard. A reversed-phase, 10-microns muBondapak C18 analytical column (30 cm X 3.9 mm) with an isocratic mobile phase of 28% acetonitrile in 80 mM sodium formate buffer (pH 3.0) was used. The eluent was monitored by both electrochemical detection at an applied potential of +0.75 V vs. Ag/AgCl and visible absorbance at 660 nm. Only electrochemical detection was able to quantitate the internal standard and provided ten times higher sensitivity than visible absorbance for mitoxantrone with a detection limit as low as 0.1 ng/ml. Calibration curves in the range 0.1-1000 ng/ml showed good linearity (r = 0.998) and precision (coefficient of variation less than 10%). This HPLC method utilized a reproducible and inexpensive liquid-liquid extraction procedure. Using methylene chloride, the extraction efficacy of mitoxantrone from plasma was 85.3% with a coefficient of variation less than 2.1%. This new assay was then applied to measure mitoxantrone concentrations in plasma obtained from two leukemic patients receiving 12 mg/m2 mitoxantrone as a 1-h infusion.